Your privacy is our policy. See our new Privacy Policy.


Navigation Back Search
Search

Mississippi church sheltered families during Katrina

By Lilla Marigza
Aug. 1, 2025 | BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. (UM News)

A 150-year-old church withstood the wind and surge of Hurricane Katrina with church members sheltering inside. Video by Lilla Marigza, UM News.

E. Dwight Franklin helps with the gutting of his parents’ home in New Orleans six months after Hurricane Katrina. Virginia Tech student Ivy Gorman (background) was part of a team from her school working through the Louisiana United Methodist Storm Recovery Center during their spring vacation. A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose.

On Aug. 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall near the Louisiana/Mississippi border as a Category 3 hurricane. The eyewall, packing strong winds and significant storm surge, passed directly over Bay St. Louis. Several families in the coastal town had taken shelter on high ground in the sanctuary of the 150-year-old Main Street United Methodist Church.

Learn more about historic Main Street United Methodist Church in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.

Marigza is a multimedia producer for UM News. Contact her at (615) 742-5470 or [email protected]. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free UM News Digest.

Related Tags

Sign up for our newsletter!

Subscribe Now
Disaster Relief
Photo courtesy of the Louisiana Conference.

Louisiana Conference: Hope Beyond the Storm podcast series
A special series of the Louisiana NOW podcast shares first‑hand stories of resilience, hard choices and pastoring from church leaders, volunteers and neighbors who rebuilt together twenty years after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Disaster Relief
Dr. Sue Berry recalls her service directing a special-needs shelter in Lake Charles, La., in the days following Hurricane Katrina. Berry is a member of Rayne Memorial United Methodist Church in New Orleans. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.

New Orleans doctor answers call to serve after hurricane
Dr. Susan Berry was leaving New Orleans with her family to escape Hurricane Katrina, but she felt called to stay and help during the public health crisis that followed.
Global Health
Medical students work in the lab at Luke’s House, a free health clinic in New Orleans. From left, with faces visible, are Ryan Barry, Zahra Naeini, Karla Gallegos Díaz and Amelie Jacobs. A United Methodist pastor helped start the clinic in 2006 in response to the health care gap left by Hurricane Katrina. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.

Faith-based free clinic serves community
Luke’s House, a free clinic in New Orleans started by United Methodists, grew out of a need after Hurricane Katrina closed most avenues to health care.

United Methodist Communications is an agency of The United Methodist Church

©2025 United Methodist Communications. All Rights Reserved